That's some fine workmanship, Ron - the solid Walnut baffle is going to look sweet.
Kinda surprised you didn't walk us through the routing recesses process though . . .
@Steve_Lee said:
That's some fine workmanship, Ron - the solid Walnut baffle is going to look sweet.
Kinda surprised you didn't walk us through the routing recesses process though . . .
@Steve_Lee said:
That's some fine workmanship, Ron - the solid Walnut baffle is going to look sweet.
Kinda surprised you didn't walk us through the routing recesses process though . . .
Impeccable work as always. Ron, I appreciate your documentation of your beautiful work. I've at least attempted to employ some of your tricks and techniques over the years. I just wish more of the results would tag along. Must be the operator.
I didn't have gaskets for the 3D printed ports and the GRS tweeter faceplates so I 3D printed gaskets for them with TPU filament. TPU is a rubbery filament that lets you print flexible parts. The gaskets are about .020 inches thick,
My wood shop is in the basement of a rental house we have and I stopped by this afternoon on the way to get groceries to pick up the port I'd left there. I carefully place the port in the the shade of the roof pillar while I shopped. By the time I got back to the car it was no longer in the shade so I picked it up to see if it was still solid. It seemed fine but I just noticed the end of the port is a little oblong now. There's a reason the tell you not to leave 3D printed objects in the car on a hot summer day.
Ron, I recommend adding some mass/damping to the rear of the BG chamber cap. As thin as it is, it can oscillate under pressures and induce a small amount of noise. I glued a square piece of rubberized sport flooring of about the same size as the cap to the backs using E6000. I felt it was audible and worth doing after the addition.
Just a thought.....
I put a 45 degree chamfer on the front baffle with a 45 degree router bit on the router table. I slowed the router down and made lots of passes and had minimal burning.
I did a fair amount of finish sanding.
I need to sand the other cabinet and drill holes for the port and terminal cup and then it will be time to start finishing.
Wow! Those are looking sweet, Ron.
Are you going to leave the routed edges sharp or hand sand them lightly to give a more subtle edge to them?
Have you decided upon a type of finish coating yet?
I'll probably break the edges slightly. My go to finish is natural Watco Danish oil followed by several coats of wipe on poly. It should come out like this.
I put a coat of Watco natural Danish oil on and I'm really pleased with how they look. I took this picture with the fronts still wet. They won't be this shiny when the finish dries.
It's Minwax wipe-on satin poly applied with a foam brush. When I finish a side I do half of the round-over on each corner and immediately wipe off any runs with a paper towel.
I have a small workbench with a top that tilts so I could make the chamfers level while applying a couple of coats of poly.
The crossover parts arrived yesterday so I breadboarded a crossover and took measurements this morning. I had printed a shorter port to raise the port tuning and the final response looks better than the sim.
I did a quick listen and I think it sounded pretty good.
I finished them up yesterday. I need to get some black filament for the printer so I can reprint the ports. I have one black one that's missing a chamfer and one blue one because I ran out of black filament.
My friend is in town and will get to hear them this evening.
That finish really looks nice, Ron! I noticed that you applied the wipe on poly in stages, doing the sides and baffles first and leaving the 45 degree angle chamfer without a finish (dry) until the last stage. I would think that this type of delayed finish application would create transistional marks from the dry to wet areas. But when I look at your finished speaker, I can see no signs of dry to wet transitioning. It all looks very smooth and continuous. How do you get it to blend so well? How long do you let the poly dry between applications?
I would start with the backs and set a 2 hour timer. After 2 hours the first coat will be tacky but it's safe to move the cabinet. I'd then do the top and 2 hours later rotate to do a side. By the time that side is dry it would be safe to put the cabinet on it's back and do the front. Two hours later and I could to the bottom and two hours later the remaining side. That would be enough for one day and I could start over.
I did the transition on the round overs by doing half the round over on both sides of a side. As soon as the coat was on I would wipe the transition edge with a paper towel which cleans up any runs and attempts to make the transition smooth. If I ended up with a run or a clear sign of the edge of the transition I'd lightly sand the offending run or ridge out and catch the sanded area when I did the next side. So the trick is to wipe the joint clean so the edge of the transition is no edge to unfinished. You could probably practice this on a scrap piece of wood. The trickiest part was the round overs on the chamfers. Any blemish was really obvious.
If I find a run on a flat surface I use my big chisel to cut it off and polish it out. It also takes out dust bumps.
Comments
Thanks Craig!
Waiting for Nicholas' cat to show up.
I lined the cabinets with foam and cotton. I installed a mounting plate for the crossover boards.
I glued the front baffle to the cabinet.
I flush trimmed the front baffle with a top bearing bit on the router table.
Ron
That's some fine workmanship, Ron - the solid Walnut baffle is going to look sweet.
Kinda surprised you didn't walk us through the routing recesses process though . . .
RIP
My 18 YO cat got snatched by a coyote recently - sorry for your buddy getting gone, dude.
I did.
https://diy.midwestaudio.club/discussion/comment/54636/#Comment_54636
Thanks to all for the compliments.
Ron
Thanks for pointing-out that foot hanging-out of my mouth - I couldn't see it for all the toes in the way . . .
Impeccable work as always. Ron, I appreciate your documentation of your beautiful work. I've at least attempted to employ some of your tricks and techniques over the years. I just wish more of the results would tag along. Must be the operator.
I didn't have gaskets for the 3D printed ports and the GRS tweeter faceplates so I 3D printed gaskets for them with TPU filament. TPU is a rubbery filament that lets you print flexible parts. The gaskets are about .020 inches thick,
My wood shop is in the basement of a rental house we have and I stopped by this afternoon on the way to get groceries to pick up the port I'd left there. I carefully place the port in the the shade of the roof pillar while I shopped. By the time I got back to the car it was no longer in the shade so I picked it up to see if it was still solid. It seemed fine but I just noticed the end of the port is a little oblong now. There's a reason the tell you not to leave 3D printed objects in the car on a hot summer day.
Ron
Ron, I recommend adding some mass/damping to the rear of the BG chamber cap. As thin as it is, it can oscillate under pressures and induce a small amount of noise. I glued a square piece of rubberized sport flooring of about the same size as the cap to the backs using E6000. I felt it was audible and worth doing after the addition.
Just a thought.....
InDIYana Event Website
Thanks for the idea. I can easily glue a small piece of plywood to the back of the tweeter cutout so it has it's own rear chamber.
Ron
I put a 45 degree chamfer on the front baffle with a 45 degree router bit on the router table. I slowed the router down and made lots of passes and had minimal burning.
I did a fair amount of finish sanding.
I need to sand the other cabinet and drill holes for the port and terminal cup and then it will be time to start finishing.
Wow! Those are looking sweet, Ron.
Are you going to leave the routed edges sharp or hand sand them lightly to give a more subtle edge to them?
Have you decided upon a type of finish coating yet?
I'll probably break the edges slightly. My go to finish is natural Watco Danish oil followed by several coats of wipe on poly. It should come out like this.
Look great, Ron. I envy your skills.
Very nice
Solid😎
I put a coat of Watco natural Danish oil on and I'm really pleased with how they look. I took this picture with the fronts still wet. They won't be this shiny when the finish dries.
I applied the Watco Danish oil and 3 coats of poly everywhere but the 45 degree chamfers so I could mount the drivers and measure.
The woofer merged FF, NF, Port and calculated baffle step response.
The tweeter response.
The crossover response sim.
The parts shipped this morning for the 2500Hz 24db/oct crossover.
They look great Ron. Wipe on poly or did you spray it? I only have internet access on my phone so I can't tell... is it satin or gloss poly?
It's Minwax wipe-on satin poly applied with a foam brush. When I finish a side I do half of the round-over on each corner and immediately wipe off any runs with a paper towel.
I have a small workbench with a top that tilts so I could make the chamfers level while applying a couple of coats of poly.
The crossover parts arrived yesterday so I breadboarded a crossover and took measurements this morning. I had printed a shorter port to raise the port tuning and the final response looks better than the sim.
I did a quick listen and I think it sounded pretty good.
impressive little build
Those cabinets just smack of deep luster/color.
I am looking forward to seeing that quarter sawn walnut veneer. That will be a new one for me.
It was crossover assembly day.
I finished them up yesterday. I need to get some black filament for the printer so I can reprint the ports. I have one black one that's missing a chamfer and one blue one because I ran out of black filament.
My friend is in town and will get to hear them this evening.
That finish really looks nice, Ron! I noticed that you applied the wipe on poly in stages, doing the sides and baffles first and leaving the 45 degree angle chamfer without a finish (dry) until the last stage. I would think that this type of delayed finish application would create transistional marks from the dry to wet areas. But when I look at your finished speaker, I can see no signs of dry to wet transitioning. It all looks very smooth and continuous. How do you get it to blend so well? How long do you let the poly dry between applications?
I would start with the backs and set a 2 hour timer. After 2 hours the first coat will be tacky but it's safe to move the cabinet. I'd then do the top and 2 hours later rotate to do a side. By the time that side is dry it would be safe to put the cabinet on it's back and do the front. Two hours later and I could to the bottom and two hours later the remaining side. That would be enough for one day and I could start over.
I did the transition on the round overs by doing half the round over on both sides of a side. As soon as the coat was on I would wipe the transition edge with a paper towel which cleans up any runs and attempts to make the transition smooth. If I ended up with a run or a clear sign of the edge of the transition I'd lightly sand the offending run or ridge out and catch the sanded area when I did the next side. So the trick is to wipe the joint clean so the edge of the transition is no edge to unfinished. You could probably practice this on a scrap piece of wood. The trickiest part was the round overs on the chamfers. Any blemish was really obvious.
If I find a run on a flat surface I use my big chisel to cut it off and polish it out. It also takes out dust bumps.